Sidney Poitier
Actor
1927 - 2022
Profession
ActorDirector
Hometown
Miami, FL
Overview
From the mid-1950s on, Sidney Poitier reigned as one of Hollywood’s biggest and brighest stars. He was the first Black winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field (1963) and was 1967’s top-grossing actor thanks to hits like In the Heat of the Night (1967) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967). As one of America’s most prominent Black actors during a tumultuous era, he lent his fame and wealth to the civil right movement. But he also carried a heavy representational burden, Poitier sometimes criticized for choosing to play respectable but passive characters.
Select Filmography
About the Filmography
The selected filmography for the years 1897–1971 includes works featured in the exhibition and others that are considered historically, socially, or politically relevant. Hollywood productions are generally excluded; the focus is instead on independent films, particularly the work of Black filmmakers. Black Academy Award nominees and winners are noted. This filmography was compiled using the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and various filmographies, including those by Klotman, Richards, and Hyatt. Primary production materials and contemporaneous film reviews were also consulted. Complete credits for many of the films are unavailable. All films are US productions unless otherwise noted, and distribution credits refer to the original distributors.